Macau Rugby Festival – A winner!

Macau Bats hosted the annual Macau mini-rugby festival at TIS field, in Taipa, on Saturday. Forty teams took part from Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macau making for a colourful and exciting atmosphere. Conditions were favourable, the previous day’s rain making way for drier and cooler weather, ideal for rugby.

The younger age groups saw fast and high scoring games, with Macau Bats U6 defeating Tiger Barbarians by 6-4 and Sandy Bay edging a nine try thriller against Hong Kong Football Club 5-4 in the same age group. It was in fact Sandy Bay that would emerge as the U6 cup winners by 1-0 against USRC Tigers in the final.

Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC) had a very successful day winning the Cups in the U7, U9 and U10 age groups while the U8 Cup was shared by Valley Fort and USRC Tigers after drawing a very tight and exciting final.
The Macau Bats U10 team did very well to get to the U10 Cup final, where they met a very good HKFC side that were too strong for the home side. In the U8 competition there was a Macau derby between the Bats and Macau Saints, with the Saints coming out winners by 3-1 to take the Plate final.

The festival was a success and well regarded by all visiting players, coaches and supporters from Hong Kong and Guangzhou, most of whom were keen to return for next year’s edition. Donald Shaw, MDT